So, at this point gas prices are up and other prices seem likely to follow. I always feel a little guilty complaining about gas prices, because I know that we in the US have enjoyed damn low relative-to-the-rest-of-the-world gas prices for quite some time. Knowing that doesn't help much when your budget has to take in the fact that this item now costs at least a third again as much as it used to, but I do kind of feel like a little rich girl whining about having to buy sevruga instead of beluga. In any case, certainly the increase in gas prices will affect our budget--the husband drives to work every day. We live in a rural area where public transportation is nonexistent, so this really isn't a matter of choice.
Traditionally people turn to cheaper forms of entertainment during a downturn in the economy, whether it's renting a movie instead of going out to see one or picking up comic books, which are still a relatively cheap form of entertainment.
Well, as I've seen others mention elsewhere, chances are that a movie that entertains you for a couple of hours is going to have more basic entertainment value than a comic that keeps you occupied for five or ten minutes. Heck, in that sense a paperback novel is a bargain at twice (or thrice) the cost of a comic book.
I'm also not really sure what these expensive entertainments are that people are supposed to be giving up in favor of comics. A night of drinking at their local waterhole? Fine dining? Caribbean cruises? It just gives me an amusing mental picture of the fellow who sells his sailboat and starts collecting Batman instead. :)
The thing I try to think of, when I'm making a spending decision, is whether the more expensive option is that much better than the less pricey choice. Say that I'm going to pick up some take-out something-or-other on my way home. Do I get burgers or do I get Chinese food? I'd prefer the Chinese food but the burgers are cheaper. Say that the Chinese food costs three times what the burgers would be--is it three times as good? Do I want it three times as much?
So, say that I'm thinking of getting a new video game, at thirteen times the cost of a comic. Well, I might get thirteen times the fun out of it. I probably did get thirteen times the fun out of Marvel Ultimate Alliance than I did out of the average single comic, partly because I spent a lot more time playing it than I did reading any single book, but mainly because it's a group activity.
Now, I love comics and I get a lot of pleasure from them--I'm a comic fan. (I'm not, particularly, a video game fan; I play when we've got a specific game I'm interested in and not otherwise.) So, for me, all isn't equal when I'm comparing comics to other entertainment choices--I'm going to go for the comics, just about every time. But for a lot of folks who don't have that connection, comics really haven't got a chance when compared against other activities.
Another thought when it comes to money and where people spend it is that the comic reader is older today than they used to be, which means that more of their income is going to be tied up in non-optional purchases. A kid comic fan (remember back when comic fans were kids?) isn't going to have to make the same decisions about spending money as an adult is. For the most part, most kids' income is disposable income---they typically don't have to pay for their own clothing, food, housing or transportation. That's often true of teen readers as well. Because of this, comic books are competing with, basically, other luxury items for their money. For an adult, on the other hand, comics may be competing with necessities, and if that's the case, clearly the cash is going to go toward the food and gas.
Finally, when you go to a movie, generally speaking, when the movie is over the entertainment (and your expense) is over. Even if it's a sequel, a movie generally stands alone--you can enjoy it without having seen what came before. Same with video games--you don't have to have played the last game in the series to enjoy the one you've just purchased (although I assume it doesn't hurt). Comics, on the other hand, almost never stand alone. If you're not a regular comic fan and you pick up the last issue in a story arc, you're confused. If you pick up the first issue in a story arc, well, you've got to buy at least three or four more issues to get the full experience. So it isn't necessarily an issue of going to "a" movie vs. buying "a" comic book.
In the last year we have started doing a lot of work with the library systems. Most of them are picking up graphic novels.
This is quite true--the thirteen-year-old's library (it's a public library located in a school) has a number of the Ultimate X-Men trades that she's read. Of course she is already predisposed to read comics, but they're well worn so I have to assume that other people are picking them up on occasion. It's likely the only chance that a lot of kids have to read comics easily. I do know that most of her classmates are not running out to the newsstand looking for comics, but if a few are, that's something.
However, the idea that comics are ever likely to become the sort of mass entertainment that they were years ago just seems unlikely to me.
